 | | Birmingham City Ladies v Chelsea Ladies |
Pulsating, energetic and exhilarating to watch, Birmingham City Ladies had look set to get their home campaign off to a brilliant start after courageously fighting back from 2-0 down, but were stung by two sloppy goals, which leaves them still searching for their first win of the season. The match pounced into life from the get go, and within the first 10 minutes Birmingham had forced a last ditch goal line clearance, after Steph Samuels had nearly directed the ball into the top corner, from an in-swung Karen Carney corner. This outlined the early stages of the game, and became the story of the match, as most possession and chances fell to Birmingham, and although Chelsea looked strong and composed at the back, it didn’t look likely that they’d be the first to score, or indeed be the ones to win the match. Shockingly though, they were to win the match and with their first attack on goal, Laura Cooper sent a looping shot in the 22nd minute into the back of the net to give Chelsea an unexpected 1-0 lead.
 | | Birmingham City Ladies v Chelsea Ladies |
Birmingham regained their composure and battled back, but it was Chelsea that seemed to grow stronger and a poorly defended corner lead to their second goal from the head of striker Amy Found with only minutes to go until half time. At 2-0 down Birmingham could have easily gone to pieces but instead they responded in fantastic fashion with a thumping shot from captain Laura Basset, after Chelsea failed to clear the ball from their box. 2-1 at half time Going 2-1 into half time gave the City players a much needed lift and they came out in the second half with an urgency to find the equaliser. They seemed a team possessed, and Chelsea were rattled. Birmingham’s England International Karen Carney, who dazzled Chelsea’s defence time and again, hit a thunderbolt 25 yards out only to see it smash against the cross bar. And Birmingham’s unrelenting pressure soon paid off with the equaliser coming in the 66th minute, after a sweet through ball was slotted past the Chelsea keeper by sub Kirsty Rotton from a tight angle, to make it 2-2.
 | | Birmingham City Ladies v Chelsea Ladies |
It only seemed like there would be one winner from here, but footballs a funny old game and ten minutes on Chelsea had their lead back. A Chelsea through ball split open Birmingham’s back four far too easily, and Chelsea’s striker tore through, and to her credit stayed on her feet despite a hasty challenge in the penalty area, to pass the ball toward goal for an easy tap in by Nina Downham. Despite the defensive nerves and being 3-2 down, Birmingham still created chances galore to not only level back but to win the game, however they lacked the killer instinct in front of goal, and their created chances, 22, to converted goals, 2, ratio only went to consolidate this. End to end football
 | | Birmingham City Ladies - Maria Ballard |
For the last 15 minutes it became a fascinating match of end to end football, Chelsea, compact and organised, threatened on the counter attack and Birmingham kept there pulsating pressure on the Chelsea goal. But the vital next goal swung in Chelsea’s favour after another defensive blunder, this time from Birmingham keeper Wood. What should have been a routine pick up turned into a nightmare as a harmless looking shot from Emma Delves somehow slid through her arms, under her legs and into the back of the net to give Chelsea a flattering 4-2 lead. Although Birmingham tried valiantly to get back into the match, their defensive errors and missed goal opportunities were too costly and meant that an ecstatic Chelsea earned their first win of the season. Chelsea coach Shaun Gore, was delighted with his teams performance. “I thought it was a very tough game, both sides were disciplined, (but) I’m extremely pleased with the attitude our girls showed, as well as the professionalism, so I’m obviously over the moon! We needed the three points and the girls have rallied round. The girls are absolutely ecstatic. They’ve worked so hard all this week, and so hard throughout the match, they thoroughly deserve the three points.”
 | | Birmingham City Ladies v Chelsea Ladies |
A clearly very disappointed Michael Moore, coach of Birmingham City, gave his accurate account to City’s downfall. “It was a game where we had 22 shots on goal, of which 14 were on target. They’ve had 14 shots, 7 on goal and scored 4. We had the majority of the play, they were just more clinical. So it’s a game where we feel very disappointed.” “I think everyone watching at 2-2 thought we were going to win it. There was only one team that were going to win it but we again, defensively, made one or two errors and than we’re chasing the game and they’ve got a fourth. The chances keep coming but we have to take them and than defend better as a team at the other end. We did that at Doncaster. Doncaster had 5 shots, scored four goals.” “We’ve created chances every game we’ve played; we’ve just got to keep believing that it will turn. We go to training on Tuesday, we’ll try and put it right, we’ll come and play with the same philosophy, to play and create chances and I just hope we’ll be a little bit tighter at the back.” After Birmingham’s summer financial struggles, is this a knock on effect? “No-one said it was going to be easy this year, it’s going to be difficult, we’ve got a lot of inexperienced players, a lot of kids, its going to be a long season for us. It’s going to be difficult.” Optimism
 | | Birmingham City Ladies - Ellen Maggs |
As my first spectator match for Birmingham ladies I felt optimism despite the defeat. There was some fantastic football on show; individual skill, slick interplay between players, great build up play, crunching tackles and some cracking goals. Perhaps this wasn’t Birmingham’s best game, but if it’s a glimpse of what they can do, than I can’t wait for next Sunday to see their proper outing, and hopefully see them nail their first win against Doncaster Rover Belles. Birmingham City Ladies play at Redditch FC’s ground, kick off starts at 2pm. Entry at Redditch United Football Club will be £3 adults, £1 children. And listen out for Jenny Wilkes regular report on women's football in Daz Hale's Sportsnight on BBC WM 95.6FM every Tuesday night at 8.30pm. Birmingham City LFC team Susan Wood, Sarah Wooscroft, Michelle Archer, Sally Lacey, Steph Samuels, Laura Bassett (captain), Karen Carney, Ellen Maggs, Jade Whitfield, Maria Ballard, Jenny Igoe. Subs: Kirsty Rotton, Jenny Lowe, Chelsea Weston, Jemma Buttler, Yvette Dorphin. Chelsea LFC team Caroline Collie, Emma Delves, Clare Stevens, Kyproulla Louzzou, Seinna Regali, Nicki De La Salle, Lizzie Edwards, Laura Cooper (captain), Amber Cook, Ellen White, Amy Found. Subs: Nina Downham, Freya Lees, Sophie Perry, Lisa Langresh, Tammy Thornton. |
